(F)athlete, Tri-ing to Get the F Out!

Countdown to Race Day: Taking the Bitter with the Sweet

It’s a tough thing that the closer you get to your race (especially when it involves a plane), there is TONS going on. So time is running out and I’m swamped trying to fit in work and prepping and socializing (and sleep). The time gets shorter, and yet there is SO MUCH TO POST IN THE BLOG!!! I keep thinking “I need to write a blog about this. I should take a picture of this (damn, forgot my phone I the car…again). I need to remember THIS for my blog.”

But then inevitably, I forget and/or I get caught up in the next thing to do, that now I have something NEW to write about, but I never wrote about the old thing. It’s a big snowballed backlog and now there is no way to do anything justice!! So we’re back to bullet points. And very few pictures.

Don’t you love the irony of how I just spent two fairly wordy paragraphs justifying why I can’t write a lot? And not ironic in the Alanis Morrisette song way where things aren’t really ironic, but they just suck. It really is ironic. Don’t you think?

God, I think I need a xanax.

Anyway, this long weekend, the LAST weekend of training before our race was lighter than usual due to the taper, but overall a lot of fun. It certainly has a very bittersweet quality to it, knowing that in a week’s time the official season with my beloved IronTeam is over. The words marched across my brain at various points over the weekend as I reflected on the last 7 months. It would be a noble effort for me to really talk to you about the season and what is has meant to me. So instead I’m going to just bullet out some bitter and sweet moments, and put them in a list format for easy reading. Nobility will have to wait.

Bitter: Showing up to practice exhausted and grumpy due to my loud obnoxious neighbors beginning their summer ritual of yapping in their backyard all night every night. They sound like they’re in my bedroom with me. Yapping.

Sweet: It’s hard to be grumpy when you show up to practice with such amazing teammates. Believe me, I tried.

Bitter: Being sent off to run alone for the last team practice “on the flats” because my calf and achilles are really f*d right now….

Sweet: NOT having to do the 90-mile ride that was the alternative (for the other half of our team training for full iron-distance. I admit felt a sadistic sense of glee as they rode off. Plus, I aside from the limpiness of it, I had a pretty strong run.

Bitter: Hearing a teammate emotionally talk about a friend who is losing her battle with cancer

Sweet: Reminders of the incredible strength of those who do battle against these diseases and recognizing how lucky we are to race on their behalf. Our team has now raised $330,000 since November. How is THAT for action?

Bitter: Despite shipping my damn bike off the mainland, they still found a way to torture us as we were scheduled to do a special 90-minute spin class with Coach Jason.

Sweet: Holy crap, the Equinox gym where we had the class was the most insane gym I’ve ever been in. I’m adding it to my vision board. I don’t think the fully made-up Kim Kardashian look-a-likes “working out” around the gym quite knew what to make of us unpolished tourists in visors and spandex running around taking pictures and ogling the joint. But it was just so fancy!!! Plus, spinning in a private class with 20 other teammates was a riot. I could get used to this (the chick who handed out aromatherapy ice towels as we were cooling down really sealed it for me). It would only take cutting out 50 Starbucks Soy Lattes a month to get a membership.

Bitter: I continued to be plagued by calf issues Sunday, which resulted in getting yelled at by a coach as I DIDN’T run down the beach to start the swim like I was supposed to. It took a mile swim in the ocean for me to calm the heck down.

Sweet: I got to wear my new goggles. They’re rad.

Bittersweet: We had our team sendoff afternoon get-together at Trader Vic’s downtown. It certainly was a pain in the ass to get to, but someone made a turtle cake, so you can’t totally hate.

Time is marching forward at a ridiculously rapid pace. I currently have a load of laundry in. Somehow between today and Thursday morning, I’ll need to be organized, packed, locked and loaded. There may be a taper workout or two. And then…….ALOHA!!!

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The Athena Project: Then & Now

The Athena Project 2013
Newly *mostly* vegan.
Be a role model for having a healthy, active lifestyle and focusing on HEALTH, with weight loss as the potential nifty effect of living well.
Inspire others to take charge of living clean at any size!
Training captain for Summer TNT Triathlon team.

The Athena Project 2011-12:June 2nd - Half-Ironman in Kona, HIRace at 140!?2011-12 Results: Finished Honu 70.3. Weight continues to hover above 165. End of 2012 was a time of reflection. Health, not weight, may be the end game here.